Los Lobos, Ricky Skaggs headline free weekend festival

Wednesday

Jul 23, 2014 at 5:05 PMJul 24, 2014 at 11:21 AM

The free Boston Summer Arts this Saturday and Sunday features Grammy Award winners and international stars.

Grammy Award winners headline two days of free music and dance in Copley SquareThere are lots of reasons to feel fortunate to live near Boston, and one of them is the Summer Arts Weekend this Saturday and Sunday.

The free festival features three Grammy Award-winning performers plus international, national and local stars in a nonstop showcase of musical styles on the Copley Square plaza between the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. These include Latin, Celtic, classical, blues, jazz and children’s music.

“My challenge is to do something artistically in different genres that is interesting and accessible,” said artistic director Brian O’Donovan, host of WGBH’s “A Celtic Sojourn.” “It’s very diverse and very invitational. And we have the opportunity to do things that are a little more adventurous because we’re outdoors and free.”

Sponsored mainly by WGBH, The Boston Globe and Citizens Bank, the festival will spend nearly $1 million and more than 11,000 people are expected to attend each day.

The lineup features three of the Boston area’s most entertaining family performers: Steve Songs, The Gizmo Guys and Debbie and Friends. Other local artists will perform on a second stage near the Copley Square fountain between the main acts.

O’Donovan says Copley Square is the perfect location for an arts weekend.

“I feel particularly passionate about Copley Square as a gathering place,” he said. “It’s the closest thing we have to an Italian piazza, and it’s the heart of the city. It is a defined space which creates an intimacy.”

O’Donovan said he hopes the Arts Weekend has developed a loyal audience since the event debuted in 2012.

“I would love to think people come not so much for particular artists but for the strength of the festival,” he said. “I want people to say, ‘I will be back next year, I don’t care who is performing. It’s always great.”

Reach Jody Feinberg at jfeinberg@ledger.com or follow her on Twitter @JodyF_Ledger.